To Be Young and Gifted
by taitlin
Summary: When you attend a school for gifted youngsters the lessons are actually the fun part… but the friendships, hormones and secrets the teachers are keeping? That's what you've really got to work on. High-school powers AU.
1. Chapter 1

/ / /

AN:

A new story from me that's a bit different from my other multi-chap (that one is about adult intimacies, and this one is about teenage life but both explore meta powers because I think that's so interesting and the show has kind of veered away from that). It's been floating around my brain for a while now and has finally taken written form. Hope you like it!

/ / /

"Dude have you heard?"

Barry Allen almost tripped as the excited voice seemed to jump out of the air next to him. But considering the voice belonged to his best friend Cisco Ramon, who had the ability to open inter-dimensional breaches and travel through them, that possibility wasn't entirely out of the question.

"Heard what?" Barry asked as he righted his school bag.

"We've got a new classmate!" Cisco said animatedly.

"For real? In the middle of the semester?" Barry asked.

"Yup," Cisco answered, popping the 'p'. "Apparently there's a whole repression thing going on so McGee wasn't sure they'd be rightly placed here but Wells and Stein argued for it."

Barry frowned. "How do you know that?"

Cisco preened. "I told you I was Wells' favorite."

Barry shrugged that off but then frowned. "No, seriously, how do you know about their situation? And why are you referring to them as 'they'? You don't know if they're a girl or a guy?"

Cisco shifted uneasily.

"You vibed it, didn't you?" Barry said. The other of Cisco's abilities was that he sometimes got visions of future events.

"I only get vibes when they matter to me or to us," Cisco said adamantly. "So whoever this person is, I think they're gonna be our friend. Or maybe they need help from us specifically. Either way I got a vibe about them so it's gotta be important."

"Ok," Barry said. He didn't need to hear much more than that. "Any idea when they're coming?"

"Nope. Maybe Felicity could do her thing and find out?"

"We can ask her," Barry answered, "but first we should probably get to Well's class."

Cisco nodded and the two hurried along. Barry had a penchant for being late, which was in no way countered by the fact that his power was super speed. It proved to him that whoever was up there controlling things had a fairly whacked sense of humor.

But Barry would always be grateful for his speed, for the thrill and exhilaration he felt whenever he used it. It had been a surprise when shortly after his tenth birthday he'd struggled with losing focus on things, moments seeming to either speed up or slow down around him. And then the passing out had started. He'd managed to conceal it for about a week, terrified of what was going on with him and sure no-one would understand. Then he'd had an 'episode' in front of his parents and grandparents at a Sunday dinner and when he was at the hospital he was diagnosed as a meta-human – a human whose DNA had changed, giving them an 'extra' ability.

Before too much freaking out could happen – namely his mom, who couldn't have cared less about what a meta could do and just wanted to see her son safe and looked after – the hospital had contacted the local expert and he himself had arrived to talk to them. Dr Harrison Wells had been researching metas for years, ever since his daughter had displayed an early ability and was diagnosed as one. Back then it had been treated with fear and suspicion so Wells had turned his considerable mind and fortune to the task of finding out more about what was going on. He had published papers, worked with the highest authorities and given the media fair and factual advice about metas. And in the end he had opened a school for meta children so they could have an education on their powers as much as their subjects.

Barry had been enrolled here ever since. Cisco had been his first friend and the two had been together for the last six years. Back when they had started there were a dozen students, all within a few years of age of each other. Now there were over a hundred with a decade between the oldest and youngest.

Dr Wells was a genius and some said a philanthropist but all Barry knew for certain was he was a stickler for rules - and arriving for class on time was a big one.

This morning his timetable was full of ordinary lessons; physics, mathematics, geography. Barry liked all of the sciences and he could just about muddle his way around a map but afternoon lessons were the best. That was power time and he couldn't wait to get back on the special treadmill and see if he could beat his time from last week. Barry had lots of training around his powers but the thing he always wanted to know and wanted to push was how much faster he could go.

He and Cisco managed to make it to class in time, sliding into the bench next to their friend and newbie last year, Felicity. She was a cyberpath, able to interact, create and manipulate computer code with just her mind.

"You guys are pushing it today," she muttered, shoving some of her stuff out of the way.

"For once, not my fault," Barry replied, rummaging through his bag for his notebook. "It was Cisco's."

Felicity turned a disbelieving stare on Cisco.

"I could totally lie right now and you'd believe me," Cisco deadpanned. "But for once it was not the king of late's doing."

Cisco leaned forward with a conspiratorial air, causing Felicity to do the same. Since Barry was sat between them it caused him to lean backwards. And wobble precariously on his lab stool.

"I had a vibe."

"Oooh," Felicity said. "What about?"

"A new student. Someone who's going to be important to us, I'm sure of it."

"What did you see exactly? How are they going to be important to us? What's their power? Do you know when they're coming?" Felicity fired questions.

"Woah, steady on girl. I only get so much info from my vibes. You can't force these things."

"You really need to work on that," Felicity said, shifting back to sit on her stool normally.

Cisco gaped comically and Barry laughed at his friend's face. Secretly he agreed with her; sometimes Cisco thought intuition and gut feelings could make up for useful observations with actual detail. Then again Barry might be just a little bit sore still after that time in the practice lab…

The sound of an electric wheelchair had everybody straightening in their seats and looking dead ahead.

"Good morning class," Dr Wells greeted. "I hope you've all done the reading asked of you and are ready for today's research-based project."

There was some shuffling of books as people grabbed the relevant texts and a few murmurs of "Yes Dr Wells."

"Good, good, now for today's lesson we will be jumping straight in the deep end and looking at-"

A knock at the door suddenly interrupted him.

Wells glanced at the door but when no-one entered he let out a sigh. "A small reprieve to start apparently. For those of you not quite confident on your recall abilities," Here Dr Wells glanced around the classroom with an ironic stare "you have a moment to quickly look through the reading that was asked of you."

Dr Wells wheeled himself to the door and out whilst the room erupted into quiet murmurs. Most of the students were mumbling to themselves as they quickly read through their textbooks, perhaps refreshing themselves but more likely reading it for the first time. Dr Wells was no fool. Barry, who had done the reading, leaned towards his friends.

"What do you think's up?" he asked.

"Dunno," Cisco answered. "Must be fairly big though to pull him out of class."

"There's been no data alerts issued," Felicity said, her face scrunched up as she was obviously concentrating on projecting to the nearest school mainframe. "No internal alarms going off."

"Maybe it's a personal thing and not a school thing," Barry wondered.

"Least it gives us a few more minutes to get ready for whatever Wells has planned experiment-wise," Cisco said. "Last time we had a research-based project he give me a C!"

"That's because you spent pretty much all your time trying to vibe the answers rather than read and deduce them like he wanted us to."

Cisco stuck his tongue out at Felicity. "Swot."

"Cheat."

Barry rolled his eyes. There was a reason he sat between the two of them.

The door opened again and Wells wheeled himself back in but he wasn't alone. Barry straightened up in his chair, focusing in on the stranger even as Cisco started elbowing him like mad in the side.

"Class, we have an unexpected but delightful surprise today," Wells said, motioning to the girl who stood behind him. "This is Caitlin Snow and she will be joining our school as of today. I hope you all make her feel welcome. MS Snow if you would like to take any free seat you can see. For today, you can observe and perhaps start your reading, as you will have to be up to speed by the next class to join in the experiment."

The girl was tall and thin, with mousy brown hair that was just slightly curly. Her eyes were fixed on the floor and her whole demeanor was downcast. Her hands were white where she gripped the strap of her over-the-shoulder bag. She nodded at Dr Wells and quickly skirted the walls round to the back of the class where there was an empty bench, picking the seat furthest from anyone else.

Barry couldn't help himself and subtly looked over his shoulder at her, ignoring Cisco for a moment more and focusing on the girl. Why did she look so sad? And why did he want to get up and go over there just so she wasn't alone?

"Dude!" Cisco hissed.

"What?" Barry leaned closer to Cisco as Wells started pointing out lesson objectives on his screen at the front.

"That's _her_ ," Cisco said and at this Felicity snapped her attention to Cisco and leaned closer too. "I know that's her. From my vibe. I got a feeling when she walked in. That's her!"

Barry didn't even try to be subtle this time, his body just moving right around to look at her. Brown eyes met his, a storm of emotions running through them and then suddenly they changed, a flash of silver morphed round her irises, glaring back at him for a second. Brown bled back in as she blinked. The girl tensed and then looked away, bringing her textbook up in front of her like a shield.

Barry didn't know what had just happened but he wanted to ask. He wanted to find out if he could help her. He felt like he needed to somehow.

Turning back around he forced himself to pay attention to Dr Wells. Obviously Barry had startled her somehow or something had just happened while he was watching that she wasn't happy with. But he could hardly get up in the middle of class, go over there and ask what was wrong in front of everybody. He'd hate for that to happen to him even if it was a friend and for a good reason (his nearest experience to that was the time he'd skipped breakfast and lunch to revise for a test, passed out and had Cisco shouting him awake in the middle of the quad but at least there weren't that many people around that day). So right now he couldn't do anything without embarrassing both of them - and it was debatable about whether he _should_ as well – so he needed to concentrate on this lesson and then have a pow-wow with Cisco and Felicity about what to do and figure out why he felt so strongly in the first place.

But he hoped Cisco was right about them being friends with the new student.

/ / /

A man sat behind a large desk, surrounded by darkness, the only light coming from the computer screen in front of him. He flicked through the footage again, watching the three youngsters at the back of the room engage in a whispered conversation, watching as they reacted to their teacher's presence, watching as they observed their new classmate. Light glinted off his glasses as he smiled grimly, eyes zeroing in on the middle adolescent, scrutinizing the boy's response to the girl at the front.

Everything was falling into place. All the players were coming to the stage.

"Ah, to be young and gifted," He muttered, marking down the date and time. "But not for long."

Very soon now he could put his plan into place. And by the time they knew, anyone knew, what was happening, it would be too late to stop it.

/ / /


	2. Chapter 2

/ / /

AN:

Thank you for all the lovely reviews, I'm so glad there's such interest in this story! I'm afraid updates won't be as regular as my other fic but they will always be forthcoming (unless I say a fic is on hiatus I will always continue with it but I have this story planned out so that's unlikely to happen with this fic). Enjoy and let me know what you think!

/ / /

Somehow Barry managed to get through the lesson and do a fairly good job on his research project. If anyone had asked him a direct question though – and powers forbid it be Dr Wells – Barry wasn't sure he could had said anything intelligible, let alone related to what he'd just been working on. He was too aware of the girl sitting behind them. And of Cisco pretty much vibrating in his seat next to him.

"We have to talk to her," Cisco hissed as Wells started motioning for everybody to start packing up.

"We can't just ambush her," Barry replied. "She looks like she'll freak."

"It's not an ambush. Just a friendly welcome from people who are fated to be her friends."

"Right because that'll totally work as an introduction."

"Barry's right," Felicity chimed in. "She seems pretty nervous. You go in their all vibes blazing and you'll scare her off."

Cisco huffed. "Well, what should we do then? We need to be friends with her; that much I know for certain. I felt it during the vibe. Then the rest of it, what happens from then on is a bit fuzzy…"

"And all this from one vibe when you didn't even really see her."

"Yes," said Cisco adamantly, conviction ringing in his tone.

"I'll go," Felicity said. "Girl to girl might be easier."

And with that she hopped off her stool and walked over to the new girl, Caitlin Snow, giving her a beaming smile in welcome.

"I envy her confidence sometimes," Cisco said.

Barry nodded and continued to pack away his things, aware of his classmates and Dr Wells at the front but his attention most definitely behind him, focused on where Felicity was talking with Caitlin. Or talking at might be more accurate. Felicity was definitely holding a one-sided conversation as Caitlin was barely nodding in response to her words, let alone replying.

"I think maybe Felicity's confidence might be working against us here," he muttered to Cisco.

"Dude what should we do?" Cisco hissed.

The sound of a wheelchair coming closer quickly shut off their conversation and both boys bolted upright in their seats. Sometimes Barry wondered if Dr Wells had his own power - calling attention as he neared people perhaps – because he couldn't help but sit up straighter and be more alert every time the Head teacher came close.

"Good work today boys," Dr Wells said. "I was coming to ask a favor of you but it seems Miss Smoak has already taken it upon herself to greet Miss Snow."

"You want us to meet Caitlin?" Barry asked. "Be her friends?"

"Friendship is a wonderful and complicated relationship Mr Allen and I would never prescribe or suppose that choice on anyone. However, as the three of you are a lab group and they can extend to four, I was going to ask if you would allow Miss Snow to work with you," Dr Wells replied. "If that leads to friendship it will be entirely of your own choosing."

"No problem Dr Wells," Cisco chirped. "We'd be happy to."

Dr Wells nodded as he wheeled himself off. "My thanks."

"Maybe that's why I vibed her," Cisco whispered. "Maybe in our lab group, the four of us will change the world together. Through an experiment or invention or something. Although I think my vibe had some flashing lights and fighting in it…"

"You're going to have to explain everything from your vibe sometime soon," Barry said. "Come on, we've got a legitimate non-scary reason to talk to her now. Let's go rescue our new group mate from Felicity."

He got up off his stool and walked to the lab bench behind them, separated enough from the rest of the class that it was mostly used by older students to observe the lesson. Barry hoped it didn't say too much about Caitlin that she went straight to it; she'd have to have some extrovert attributes if she was going to keep up with Cisco and Felicity.

"-and so the showers on the third corridor can totally get stuck sometimes, so you've got to watch out for that or you'll end up a walking ice cube. I'm not joking, they can go that cold-"

"Hey Felicity," Barry said loudly. He knew he was interrupting but Caitlin had just flinched at the mention of ice and he knew Felicity would have just kept talking.

"Hi there," Cisco said reaching out a hand around Felicity as she turned to them. "I'm Cisco. Dr Wells just said that you'd be ok to join our group. Thought we'd come over and say hi. You must know all about Felicity by now."

"Hey! I was just telling her some useful living facts about the girls' bathrooms-"

"Which you need to know in the middle of a physics lesson."

"Which you need to know at any time for-"

"For what? You might have a hair emergency?"

"If any of us ever had a hair emergency Cisco it would so be you."

"Well excuse me for nearly always having my conditioner game on point-"

"Sorry about them," Barry said softly, sidling up to the lab bench. "They can get a bit carried away and excitable at times. I'm Barry by the way."

"Caitlin," she answered shortly, her eyes briefly flicking up to him before looking back at Cisco and Felicity. She was holding herself back, her shoulders stiffly hunched and her arms wrapped protectively around her bag in front of her chest. But Barry saw the look in her eyes as she watched his friends; it was barely concealed longing.

"So Cisco was right when he said you can join our group, in fact I think Dr Wells has pretty much planned it."

"Right," She said softly. "Because I always have to be looked after."

"Err, I don't think that's why," Barry replied, wondering at her use of words and why she was now looking down and away. "We're pretty far ahead in our project so it's probably because you'd be able to join us and still contribute but not have to do loads of work. Dr Wells is kind of a fair teacher like that."

Caitlin nodded but her attention was now determinedly fixed on her fingers picking at her bag.

"And maybe he hopes someone new could help me corral these two," Barry motioned behind him to where Cisco and Felicity were still arguing – and still about hair products of all things.

A small smile tugged at Caitlin's lips as she glanced back up at the animated pair.

"You'll do that more around us too," Barry forged on, grinning at her. "It seems like you don't smile a lot but we'll give you plenty of reasons to."

Caitlin's face blanked immediately. "I have very good reasons for my blank expression, thanks," she said hurriedly and before Barry could say anything else she had jumped to her feet and rushed out of the room.

"Barry, what just happened?" Felicity asked.

"Yeah man what did you say to her?" Cisco added, staring after where Caitlin had raced out of the room.

"I just talked about her smiling," Barry said, completely nonplussed and uncomfortable. He'd meant it as a good thing, something that they all did that indicated happiness but obviously Caitlin interpreted it as something else. And that something else was very personal to her.

"O-o-kay, mental note," Cisco said. "Don't talk to new girl about any facial expressions she may have."

Felicity elbowed him. "Come on," she said. "We'll have to figure it out later or we're all going to be late to next class."

Barry grabbed his stuff and headed out into the bustling corridor, worrying about what he'd said the entire time. He was glad she had smiled, small though it was. It changed the shape of her face and lit her up a little. And that was a way too poetic a thought to be having about a girl he'd just met.

He shook his head and pushed all thoughts of Caitlin from his mind.

Next up he had history and it was two flights of stairs up from where he was and powers were not allowed to be used so he was going to be late. Luckily most of the teachers knew this about him so he was generally unofficially allowed to be a few minutes behind everyone else.

Barry said goodbye to his friends as they both had Geography next and headed off. He got to class and sat down just as Professor Hunter started talking and he quickly pushed all his attention onto what was being said. Over the next hour he learnt about the importance of scientific recordings through history, most notably how ancient astronomers' records of eclipses had helped current day scientists to measure the earth's axel rotation and help date important events of ancient calendars.

It was all very interesting and Barry's natural curiosity was piqued over and over, especially with how science had helped shape and improve the lives of those who lived so long ago and had no great technology or abilities to help them further their knowledge of the world around him. It made him feel like anything was possible, the next scientific discovery was just waiting round the next corner.

With that thought he was pulled back to what Cisco said earlier and his aim of not thinking of Caitlin for the hour of the lesson was shot. Why was Cisco so sure she was important to them? And important as a friend, like he suggested, or as a fellow Meta or avid scientist in training?

Barry decided that tonight, no matter what Cisco was telling him and Felicity everything about his vibe, in as much detail as possible.

The lesson ended and Barry grabbed his things to go, happy to think that it was lunch next and what meals he might like to eat. He had to eat a large amount of calories to keep up with his higher metabolism but he was trying a new nutritional angle where he ate as many different protein sources as he could. He figured it was the least he could do for other speedsters out there to try and figure out what was the best way to eat as much as they could possibly could. Or that could have been just the hungry teenager in him.

He was so preoccupied with thoughts of food as he came down the stairs that he took the last corner too fast and barreled into someone.

Barry's arms shot as, his reflexes lightning quick as he caught the falling body that was bouncing away from the impact against him. He quickly realized the motion was the wrong angle and twisted his body so she fell against him instead. This all happened within a second, far too quick for Caitlin to understand how she'd gone from being upright to now on the floor cradled against Barry's chest.

"Are you ok?" he asked quickly.

"What happened?" she gasped, her hands clutching against his upper arms.

"We bumped into each other and to stop you from falling down I brought you down on top of me instead. I had to speed to do it. Do you feel ok?"

"Speed?" she asked, shaking her head in confusion.

"My power," Barry explained. "I have superspeed."

She nodded and Barry realized she hadn't answered his questions. He also realized just how close he was holding her and that neither of them had made a move to get up. He couldn't help but look at her closely, noticing the different colors of brown in her hair and how her skin was a pale cream that looked smoothly flawless.

"Hey! What happened to you guys?!"

Cisco's voice broke through Barry's internal focus and he looked up to see his friend come rushing towards them.

"Here let me help you guys."

He reached out to take a hand each from Barry and Caitlin but the second eh touched both their skin Cisco jerked, his body tensing upright and his eyes almost rolling back into his head.

"Cisco!" Barry yelled, grabbing at his friend as he jerked again.

Cisco came back around and ripped his hands away from them as he stumbled away, his feet losing their traction with the floor as he scuttled and he landed heavily on his behind, just a few feet from where Caitlin and Barry were still sprawled.

"Did you just vibe? What did you see?" Barry demanded.

"What's going on?" Caitlin asked, an edge of panic in her voice.

"I saw…" Cisco muttered. "I think I saw the future… And holy McFly but I am not going back to it."

/ / /


	3. Chapter 3

/ / /

AN:

Thank you for all the reviews and follows and favorites, its lovely the reception this story has been getting.

/ / /

There was silence for a split second and then all three started talking at once.

"The future? Are you sure? What did you see?" Barry asked.

"Not good, not good. That was one trippy trip and man was it crazy intense. I feel like my head just got whammied, kinda like that time I ate all those sherbet lollies in one go and I was loopy out of it but that was my stomach not my head and-" Cisco babbled.

"What are you two on about? What just happened?" Caitlin demanded looking wildly between the two of them.

Barry looked between up at Caitlin where she was still perched half on top of him and realized how surreal this must all be for her. First day at a new school was hard enough, let alone when you threw elements like powers and talk of the future into the mix.

"The two of you were just like that but someone was in pain from something and-"

"Cisco stop talking and take a breath," Barry commanded and his friend surprisingly did as he was told. "Caitlin?"

She turned to face him, her eyes wide with uncertainty.

"I'm sorry, this must be really confusing. I promise we can explain everything," Barry said earnestly. "But you'll have to do something first."

Caitlin screwed her face up warily, her hands fisting against where they rested on him. "What?"

"Can you give us the time to do so? This isn't exactly the place to go into depth and you deserve to know everything if what I think just happened has actually happened."

"Oh frack! We're on our asses in the corridor!" Cisco exclaimed and jumped to his feet.

Caitlin jolted and seemed to realize she was still leaning heavily on Barry, quickly pushing herself away and into a standing position, her arms crossed over herself. Barry got to his feet too, never taking his gaze off the girl in front of him.

"Please," he said softly. "Meet us after lessons in the science common room. It's along the corridor from Dr Wells' lab, looks like an encyclopedia library from the doorway. Hardly anyone ever goes there but us so we'll have privacy and can explain everything. We haven't got time now in a lunch break."

"Ok," Caitlin said quietly. "After lessons in the science common room. And you explain what just happened."

With that Caitlin grabbed her bag from the floor and quickly took off down the corridor, her long legs striding away, her shoulders up and hunched in on themselves. Barry stared after her, wondering just what her story was and how she was going to become part of theirs.

"Hey," Cisco hissed thumping Barry in the arm. "Pretty big promise to make don't you think?"

"What do you mean?"

"'We can explain everything'?" Cisco said, his fingers making quote marks in the air. "How are we going to do that when we don't know the everything to explain it?!"

"I meant your vibe Cisco. We can explain those."

"How I get them technically I suppose," Cisco said glumly. "Not what they mean or what to do about them."

Barry stared at his friend worriedly. "What did you see?"

Cisco shivered. "You and Caitlin. Just how you were then, I mean in that position, you holding her as if from a fall. But you guys were both in pain and upset. And there was blood Barry, there was blood everywhere." Cisco shook his head as if to clear the image. "You were both in these suits…"

"I'm ok Cisco, I'm right here," Barry reached out and grabbed his friend's shoulder. "It hasn't happened yet."

"You're right," Cisco answered and straightened himself up. "And it won't happen. Not if I can get control over my vibes. Let's get to lunch, get some fuel and then we're hitting the powers gym. I gotta get this ability under wraps."

Barry grabbed his bag off the floor and followed his friend down the corridor. He knew his friend's vibes were intense, that he'd need to work through it in his own way. But he'd never had a vibe that had shown anything bad before. And Cisco's vibes had so far always come true… So was it him or Caitlin that was hurt? Or both of them?

If there was so much blood… was it fatal?

"I'll text Felicity and let her know to meet us later," Cisco said as they reached the cafeteria. "I think she's on defensive training and we've both got active this afternoon, right?"

"Yeah," Barry replied. "I wonder what Caitlin's got…"

The two boys joined the line for food and grabbed whatever they could that was left, as the incident in the corridor had taken longer than Barry thought and their lunch break was already halfway finished. With active training this afternoon they would both need their energy.

Barry had always found it easy to speed, to have the lightning of the speed force move within him and allow him to just _go_. But learning the control and all the tricks that came with his speed was the hard part. It was easy enough to just run, but to run fast enough to go across water or up the sides of buildings? Or to be able to change his speed enough to switch between the two velocities needed for each different scenario? That was what Dr Wells had him working on.

Cisco too was learning about the finer nuances of control. He could manipulate vibrational energies and that came in the form of teleportation breaches, energy blasts and projective visions. If he had to rank them Barry knew Cisco would say breaches were easiest followed by the blasts with the vibe visions last. His friend struggled with the amount of sensory overload a vibe vision could give him whereas a breach was energy channeled in a specific way.

Barry and Cisco had bonded over explaining the different yet similar spectrums of their powers in one of their first ever active power lessons together. It was the same with Felicity; the amount of energy and stimuli they all had to process whilst harnessing their powers was intense and something that was very hard to understand if you couldn't relate to it.

Both Cisco and Felicity's families had struggled with adapting to children with meta abilities for that very reason.

As soon as they were finished eating Barry and Cisco headed for the lower level of the school. It was twice the height of all the normal floors and ran the entire length of the school building, with divider walls that could be changed depending on the need of the day. Two rooms were always there, though their size could change; the changing room and the control room. The amount of tech that lined the walls and ceiling always sent Cisco into a giddy rush and Barry had to stop him many times when he got lost in monologues about what great invention he would create one day and add to the school's vast collection of gadgets. Barry knew Cisco couldn't wait to get to senior level when they were allowed into the control room.

The boys quickly changed into their 'active' wear - tight gym clothes that were made of a special material designed to be resistant to all types of things – and headed out into the main arena where Diggle was waiting for the students to assemble.

Not a meta himself, Diggle had been in the army and trained Special Forces so Dr Wells had thought him a great candidate to teach control and discipline whilst sharing his knowledge of offensive and defensive fighting. It wasn't that they were being trained to fight, but the world was still unsure of metas and Wells wanted them all prepared for anything whilst being confident in their own abilities.

Active classes were usually quite small, only a handful of students at a time so they could focus as much as possible. Today there were only four students Barry noted; himself, Cisco, Bette and Caitlin. He smiled readily at the girls – Bette was fairly good friends although they didn't have many classes together and didn't hang out enough but when they did she and Barry got along fine.

"Hey guys," Bette said in greeting whilst Caitlin stood next to her in silence, her arms wrapped around herself in what Barry was coming to think was her usual stance.

"Hi Bette, how's it going?" Barry said. "Caitlin, seeing you again so soon huh?"

"Too soon," she muttered looking down and away from him.

Barry felt a clutch in his stomach and didn't know what to say as unexpected hurt crashed through him. He'd done nothing but try and make her first day nice and yes there's been that bump and Cisco's unintended vibe but did that mean she had to be rude? He wanted to ask her outright and started to open his mouth to do so when he realized that Caitlin wasn't really looking away from him but rather trying to look at everything surrounding them. Her eyes were glancing up at the tech that lined the walls and some of the apparatus that was stacked up here and there. She was biting down hard on her lower lip and her knuckles were almost white from where she was clutching her arms against her sides so tightly.

She looked almost petrified.

"Hey," Barry said gently, his mood changing from hurt to protective as fast as he could run. "I know this place looks scary but it's all safe. Once you see what everything is and how it works you'll feel comfortable with it, I promise."

"You're making a lot of promises Barry," she said softly.

He grinned at her use of his name, a light feeling coursing through him. "Well you'll soon see that I'm the kind of guy that can keep them."

A small smile flitted across Caitlin's lips and her eyes crinkled, lightening her whole face.

"Ok you four, listen up!" A loud voice Barry recognized as Diggle's called across the room though the man was nowhere to be seen. "Today's lesson is simple. Use your powers to find me."

"That sounds way too easy," Bette muttered.

"What's the catch Dig?" Cisco hollered, winking at Bette as she shook her head and Barry groaned. Cisco's banter with their teachers never ended well though it never stopped him from trying it.

"The lesson Mr Ramon," Diggle responded. "Is to be completed in pairs, two of you actively using you powers at all times, meaning you'll have to be aware of your interactions and each other's strengths and weaknesses. Oh, and if you get bogged down in any booby-traps you've failed. Understood?"

"Yes sir," Barry and Bette chorused.

"Good. You've got three minutes to discuss your plan of action. At 3.01 a ten second countdown will begin and when you hear zero the mission is a go. You win by finding me. If the lesson finishes before you find me you'll hear the buzzer and I'll review your attempts. Your three minutes start now."

"Alright let's start with basics," Bette said quickly as the four huddled together. "Whose powers are going to work well together? I can combust anything plastic but I don't think there's going to be that much around."

"Yeah especially after what you did last training with Dig's precious example dummies," Cisco murmured.

"Not helping Cisco," Barry said. "I can speed around and look for him but I'd have to carry someone if we're supposed to do it in pairs and there may be a kinetic energy device somewhere."

"Oh they are nasty," Bette said.

"I could try and vibe him but it's not at all consistent and would probably take me the whole lesson."

"What about you Caitlin? What's your powers?" Bette asked.

"Ice," Caitlin replied shortly. "But I don't really control it."

"Ice and speed are opposites," Cisco said. "Barry if you took Caitlin her ice should be able to negate any kinetic devices."

"Great idea Cisco," Bette breathed. "Barry you take Caitlin and speed around looking for Diggle. Cisco and I will create some diversions, try and make it look like we're causing such a ruckus to get Diggle to come to us."

"Sound good to you?" Barry asked Caitlin but before she could answer the others reacted.

"Let's do this!" Cisco sing-sang as he and Bette ran off.

"But I can't control the ice," Caitlin said looking panicked. "I can't help you with anything!"

"Hey, hey, it'll be ok," Barry said reaching out and grabbing Caitlin's hands.

"But what if this is what your friend saw? What if this is how I hurt you?" Caitlin asked.

Barry frowned. "How you hurt me? Caitlin that wasn't- you're not going to hurt me."

Caitlin backed away from him shaking her head and balling her hands into fists as a white mist began to surround her, filling the air. Her hair began to change too, white steaking through the brown strands.

"I always end up hurting someone," she whispered and her voice had a strange echo to it. "It's always my fault."

"Ten," an automated voice suddenly boomed. "Nine…"

Caitlin jolted and threw her hands up, shards of ice shooting out from her in a wave as she screamed. Barry dodged the ice missiles and turned quickly to get to Cisco and Bette and move them out of the way of any projectiles. He watched in shock as the training room began to be iced over by Caitlin, her face crumpled in nothing short of abject misery as she held her hands out as if they didn't belong to her, ice coating everything they were directed at.

Barry sped around the level, grabbing everyone there and getting them to the elevator so they could get out ahead of the ice but he couldn't leave. He couldn't just abandon Caitlin to face this on her own. He turned back and headed straight towards Caitlin even as the cold washed over his body, slowing him down.

/ / /

An alarm sounded on his personal computer and the man turned to it in interest; he couldn't remember any events that were supposed to happen on today's date. He opened the window and looked on in surprise as a live camera feed sprang into action, a young terrified girl spreading ice everywhere and a boy turning into a blur of lightning as he moved around her.

"Well, well," he murmured. "That's ahead of schedule. But look at all that young power. Shame it won't be yours for long eh, Flash and Frost."

/ / /

AN:

Hope you enjoyed. Any feedback would be gratefully received!


End file.
